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The Journal of Chemical Physics

Coherent population transfer and dark resonances in SO2

Thomas Halfmann, K. Bergmann

Published May 8, 1996• 92 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Highly efficient population transfer between the (0,0,0) and the (9,1,0) vibrational levels of the electronic ground state X̃ 1A1 of SO2 is demonstrated. The process relies on stimulated Raman scattering with adiabatic passage induced by two suitably delayed ultraviolet laser pulses with nearly transform-limited bandwidth. A transfer efficiency of 100% is achieved. The associated dark resonance is observed. Properties of the latter are compared for delayed and fully overlapping pulses.

DOI
10.1063/1.471424

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Apr 1, 1992•0 citations
Highly efficient population transfer between the (0,0,0) and the (9,1,0) vibrational levels of the electronic ground state X̃ 1A1 of SO2 is demonstrated. The process relies on stimulated Raman scattering with adiabatic passage induced by two suitably delayed ultraviolet laser pulses with nearly transform-limited bandwidth. A transfer efficiency of 100% is achieved. The associated dark resonance is observed. Properties of the latter are compared for delayed and fully overlapping pulses.
Highly efficient and selective population transfer in NO molecules in the electronic ground state (X2{\mathit{X}}^{2}X2${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Pi}}}_{1/2}$) from the vibrational level v''=0 to the level v''=6 is demonstrated. It shows, for the first time with pulsed lasers, that a rather generally applicable scheme for complete control over the level population in atoms and molecules is now available. The efficiency relies on a counterintuitive interaction sequence of two lasers with the molecule in a process of stimulated Raman scattering involving adiabatic passage.
By using Stark-induced adiabatic Raman passage (SARP) with partially overlapping nanosecond pump (532 nm) and Stokes (683 nm) laser pulses, 73% ± 6% of the initial ground vibrational state population of H(2) (v = 0, J = 0) is transferred to the single vibrationally excited eigenstate (v = 1, J = 0). In contrast to other Stark chirped Raman adiabatic passage techniques, SARP transfers population from the initial ground state to a vibrationally excited target state of the ground electronic surface without using an intermediate vibronic resonance within an upper electronic state. Parallel linearly polarized, co-propagating pump and Stokes laser pulses of respective durations 6 ns and 4.5 ns, are combined with a relative delay of ~4 ns before orthogonally intersecting the molecular beam of H(2). The pump and Stokes laser pulses have fluences of ~10 J/mm(2) and ~1 J/mm(2), respectively. The intense pump pulse generates the necessary sweeping of the Raman resonance frequency by ac (second-order) Stark shifting the rovibrational levels. As the frequency of the v = 0 → v = 1 Raman transition is swept through resonance in the presence of the strong pump and the weaker delayed Stokes pulses, the population of (v = 0, J = 0) is coherently transferred via an adiabatic passage to (v = 1, J = 0). A quantitative measure of the population transferred to the target state is obtained from the depletion of the ground-state population using 2 + 1 resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) in a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The depletion is measured by comparing the REMPI signal of (v = 0, J = 0) at Raman resonance with that obtained when the Stokes pulse is detuned from the Stark-shifted Raman resonance. No depletion is observed with either the pump or the Stokes pulses alone, confirming that the measured depletion is indeed caused by the SARP-induced population transfer from the ground to the target state and not by the loss of molecules from photoionization or photodissociation. The two-photon resonant UV pulse used for REMPI detection is delayed by 20 ns with respect to the pump pulse to avoid the ac Stark shift originating from the pump and Stokes laser pulses. This experiment demonstrates the feasibility of preparing a large ensemble of isolated molecules in a preselected single quantum state without requiring an intermediate vibronic resonance.
The feasibility of a novel technique for efficient and selective population transfer from a thermally populated level 1 via an intermediate state 2 to level 3 is experimentally demonstrated. It is shown for sodium dimers that the process of on- or near-resonance stimulated Raman scattering with only partially overlapping laser beams is, in particular, useful for the selective population of high vibrational levels of particles in a molecular beam. This is achieved when the interaction with the Stokes laser, coupling levels 2 and 3, begins earlier than the interaction with the pump laser. The phenomenon, which is closely related to the formation of ‘‘trapped states,’’ is quantitatively explained using the basis of eigenstates of molecules strongly coupled to the radiation fields. The similarity and difference to related techniques such as rapid adiabatic passage phenomena in two-level systems, off-resonant stimulated Raman scattering, or stimulated emission pumping is briefly discussed.
Stimulated Raman scattering involving adiabatic passage (STIRAP) is a proven technique for population transfer in three-level systems with strong oscillator strengths. We show that the STIRAP process should also yield high transfer efficiencies when the densities of states near the intermediate and final levels are high, provided certain criteria for the experimentally controllable parameters are met. We also show that high transfer efficiencies may even be possible when the pump and Stokes lasers can access levels outside of the three-level system. The criteria are derived with an approach that emphasizes the adiabatic nature of the transfer process in an eigenvector of the interaction Hamiltonian that resembles a trapped state. The results are compared to density matrix calculations.